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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

An Unforgettable Week

We used to tease my dad about his obsession with reading the
Dallas Morning News obituaries first thing every day during breakfast.His reply was always the same:“Just checking to see if I have to go to work
today.”Being self-employed, he seldom
took the luxury of a day off.Dad went
to work almost every single day until the day he didn’t.(It’s been almost ten years, and I still miss
him.)

The truth is that my dad looked at the paper to see which of
his friends and acquaintances had passed away so he could pay his
respects.The older he got, he more
funerals he attended.That’s just how it
goes.My grandmother used to say that
one of the worst part about growing old was outliving all your friends.

This past week I felt like my dad, only I was checking
Facebook(instead of a newspaper) each
day to see if different friends and loved ones on my prayer list “had to go to
work” again, or if they had been promoted to glory.Happily for them, but sadly for those left
behind, several died last week.

First was the death of my friend’s mother, whom I had been
praying for since she suffered a stroke that weekend.Then the team leader from a short-term group
who came down a few years ago lost his battle against cancer, passing away that
same day.

A couple of days later, a car accident in Paraguay took the
lives of a woman some of you may have met at the WOTH retreat last fall, Julie
Kurrle, and her six-year-old son.Then
without any Facebook warning at all, a neighbor across the road passed
away.Finally on Sunday a Sonlight forum
friend lost her precious little daughter, Megan, to leukemia.

Of all of these, the most tragic are the ones involving the
little children whose lives on earth seemed cut short.I cannot imagine the pain and emptiness felt
by the parents.But then again, those
are bittersweet when we picture Jesus welcoming them directly into his arms.

What was truly heart wrenching was the reaction of unsaved
loved ones when my neighbor, Joel, died.My husband and I were in their home when the first responder finally
gave up on CPR.I have never heard such
despairing cries of agony and loss.The
wife and daughters were wailing out of sheer hopelessness, not understanding
the implications of Joel’s profession of faith in Jesus.

Such an unforgettable week points me again to the reason we
are here, the reason we make such sacrifices (like being thousands of miles
away when my little granddaughter was taken to the emergency room earlier this
week), and the reason we have hope even in the midst of terrible tragedy and
loss.

So many have yet to hear the reason for the hope we
have.Here is a sermon that reminded me
why we are here, why we do what we do, by David Platt, author of Radical; it reminds me
again of God’s sovereignty.

Ah, Jamie Jo, I'm sorry for your unusually emotional week. Bless you for your faith and trust and hope in the midst of it all. May God comfort you and give you His amazing peace. I send hugs and prayers.

I just realized that I never responded to your kind remarks this past week. Thank you! I should have made it more clear that none of these people were that close to me personally. Mostly they were folks on my prayer list. I'm doing fine. See you tomorrow!